LONDON (AP) — Dyson, the British company best known for groundbreaking vacuum cleaners, is scrapping its electric car project because it doesn't make business sense.

Billionaire founder James Dyson said in an email to employees Thursday that the project was shut down because the company "simply can no longer see a way to make it commercially viable."

Dyson said the company had failed to find a buyer for the project and denied that it was a "product failure."

Dyson announced plans last year to build the car in Singapore as part of a 2.5 billion-pound ($3.1 billion) investment in new technology globally.

The project was an ambitious attempt to enter an industry where even visionaries like Tesla's Elon Musk have struggled to make money.